People have enjoyed games which combine elements of chance and skill for many years. Players typically enjoy games which are easy to learn, rapidly played and provide opportunities for high winning payouts.
Poker is also a well known game utilizing a standard deck of playing cards. Poker is played in a myriad of variations such as DRAW Poker and STUD Poker. In Poker, various combinations of cards have significance, based on both the numerical value of the cards and the suits. The basic object of Poker is for the player to achieve a five card hand having a higher Poker rank than the hands held by the player's opponents. The basic priority or rank order of winning poker hands is: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair and High Card(s) in Hand.
It is also been known to utilize wild cards in the game of Poker. Typically one or more types of cards from a standard playing deck are designated as wild cards, such a deuces or one-eyed Jacks. It is also known to add an extra card or cards to the deck as wild cards and these extra cards are conventionally referred to as Jokers.
One popular game of cards known as "STUD" poker provides each player with five (5) cards which form the player's hand. If the game involves a plurality of players competing against each other, the players are typically given multiple chances to increase the amount of wager necessary for other players to stay in the game. Alternatively, if the players are separately playing against a dealer, i.e. the "house", the players can try to beat the dealer or try to obtain one of a predetermined collection of winning hands. In such a game, the winning payouts for any given hand are inversely proportional to the probability of attaining that given hand.
Another type of poker game known as "DRAW" poker permits a player to make a single discard whereby one or more of the player's cards are replaced by the dealer. The number of cards that a player may discard is sometimes limited. For example, in the game of FIVE CARD DRAW, a player may be restricted to replacing only three cards per hand. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that players will tend to obtain hands with higher poker rankings in "DRAW" games than in "STUD" games. Furthermore, in order to limit the players' opportunities to increase the value of their hands in "DRAW" games, players are typically restricted to discarding only once.
While "STUD" and "DRAW" poker game s have been very popular among card players, they each have disadvantages. In casino "STUD" poker games there is very little interplay between a house dealer and a player. Furthermore, the player has absolutely no determinative input to the poker ranking of his hand. In "DRAW" poker games, a player is limited to making a single decision regarding which cards to keep based upon a strategy which is formed when the initially-dealt cards are reviewed. After that single decision, the fate of the hand's poker ranking is left to chance.
In light of the general popularity of poker-type games, yet the disadvantages described above, it is desirable to provide a card game having increased player-dealer interaction. It is also desirable to provide an easy-to-learn card game allowing a greater number of decisions, and a dynamic strategy which may change as a player builds his hand.